Paul Ludwig wrote to "Going Public" via Twitter with a question about why buses seem to disappear from the Bus Tracker. "Going Public" has experienced this a few times as well. The bus will appear on Bus Tracker, then disappear, or it won't show up on Bus Tracker at all, and it's a surprise when the bus arrives at the stop.
The CTA responded: "Bus Tracker is very popular with customers. The vast majority of comments CTA riders have provided related to Bus Tracker are positive feedback on the service and questions on when certain routes would be added.
However, for riders who have seen bus information disappear briefly from the next bus arrival screen, it's important to remember that the Bus Tracker system is based on cellular communication and occasionally a bus loses communication, just as a cell phone does.
When the Bus Tracker arrival grid is not able to show information for a bus displayed a few minutes earlier, this is often the case.
In addition, if a bus is more than 150 feet off route (due to a reroute) or if the bus has not moved in more than 10 minutes, it will be dropped from the Bus Tracker view.
If a rider notices a bus that seems to have lost communication, they can contact the CTA with information regarding the incident at 888-YOUR-CTA or feedback@transitchicago.com.
The information will be forwarded to the Bus Tracker technical team for investigation."
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2 Comments
TransitNut said:
What a bunch of hooey! I'm a Chicago native who's recently moved to San Francisco. In the Bay Area we have something called NextBus - it works about 99 percent of the time - I've never seen buses predictions drop off the screeen and my understanding is that they have a patented algorithm that actually uses historical data, i.e. time of day, day of week, to help make the predictions more accurate. I don't know how much CTA is paying for the so-called Bus Tracker, but whatever it is it's TOO MUCH.
buslover said:
dude. i was just reading an article about boston buses. the guy was right, you work for nextbus. i would have thought someone with a ba from dartmouth and an mba from yale would be a little more creative with their marketing.
Lawrence Rosenshein, Director of Business Development
Mr. Rosenshein is an experienced technology strategist and sales and marketing executive. Prior to joining NextBus Mr. Rosenshein developed the business and sales strategy and organized the sales effort to get a successful “Software as a Service” startup off-the-ground. Previously he spent six years as a Principal Strategist and head of Public Sector Consulting for Novell, Inc.
Mr. Rosenshein also has had a distinguished career in the public sector, including six years as a Director of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, one of the largest transportation agencies in the U.S., and five years as Chief of Staff to a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He has a B.A. from Dartmouth and an MBA from Yale.
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